


Just For Tonight

by AuthorToBeNamedLater



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Brotherly Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Orders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 10:21:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13972995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuthorToBeNamedLater/pseuds/AuthorToBeNamedLater
Summary: But tonight, Rex could fall apart.Tonight, Rex could cling to his Jedi like a child would cling to its mother (he assumed—never having had a mother to cling to, Rex could only guess).Tonight, he could grieve.Just for tonight.(Post “Orders”)





	Just For Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I have a Rex thing, don't judge me.

The medics placed the sheet over Fives’s lifeless body and the Coruscant guard troopers silently replaced their helmets onto their heads and filed out, leaving the lower levels quiet and empty save for a clone captain and his general.

_Fives…._

“Rex. Come with me.”

The command was soft, but left no room for protest. Rex wasn’t in any shape to protest anyway. He didn’t even ask where they were going.

 _Not the barracks,_ the 501st’s captain pleaded internally. He didn’t want to go back there, didn’t want to face his brothers.

_Fives…_

Rex numbly followed Skywalker up the elevator and through various connections on the tram without saying a word. Skywalker could take them to the gates of hell itself right now, and Rex wouldn’t resist.

Rex didn’t come out of his near-catatonia until he saw the Jedi Temple looming before them. “Sir?”

“Just come with me,” Skywalker murmured.

Skywalker swiped them through various security checkpoints—had the Temple always been this heavily guarded? Rex wondered—and led them up the stairs. The guard at the entrance looked suitably confused as to why Anakin Skywalker was leading a fully armored and very battered clone trooper into the Jedi’s sacred halls.

Skywalker shot the guard a scathing look, and the young man promptly shut his mouth.

A simple yet grand hallway, another elevator, another hallway, and Skywalker keyed open the door to a small room.

“What…what is this?” Rex croaked.

“My quarters,” Skywalker said simply. “Come on. Get out of that armor.”

Some part of Rex’s mind knew that he should make a crack about how Skywalker should at least buy him dinner first, but the words wouldn’t form. Instead he automatically went through the motions of removing his armor, shedding his blacks, and donning the shirt and pants Skywalker handed him while the Jedi respectfully looked away.

“Lie down,” Skywalker ordered gently.

Rex sat on the mattress in the recessed bunk, covered his face with his hands, and broke.

As if he’d expected it, Skywalker sat down and pulled Rex into a strong, brotherly embrace. In the quiet privacy of the Jedi Temple Rex, captain of the vaunted 501st Legion, lay in his general’s arms and wept.

He wept for Fives and Tup and Hardcase, for Commander Tano, for Boil and Hevy and the shinies who never lived beyond their first battle. He wept for his brothers sent back to Kamino for “reconditioning” only to never return. He wept for the “defectives” weeded out and unceremoniously discarded during training. He wept for the worlds ravaged, the lives altered, and the galaxy shredded in the name of this awful war.

And Rex wept for himself. All the death he’d witnessed and brothers he’d lost.

Maybe it was a few minutes, maybe a few hours, but eventually Rex’s tears ran dry and he sat in an exhausted heap on Skywalker’s lap. Skywalker said nothing, made no move to let go or even shift his position, just held on so tightly it was like he was trying to keep Rex from physically breaking apart.

Some part of Rex's reeling mind acknowledged that it was the first time in his existence he’d felt safe.

Skywalker pulled away slowly, never breaking contact as he laid Rex on the mattress and tugged the blanket over him. For all their asceticism, Rex thought blearily, the Jedi at least seemed to allow themselves comfortable beds.

“Where…” Rex swallowed. “Where are you going to sleep, sir?”

“I’ll be all right, Rex. Don’t worry about me.” Skywalker knelt by the bed, and Rex thought he saw his general brush at his eyes.

 _He’s not going to sleep at all,_ Rex realized. “General, I can’t—”

“Shhh,” Skywalker cut him off. He took Rex’s hands in both of his.

A warm, heavy feeling washed over Rex’s aching body. He turned his face into the pillow as a few fresh tears escaped. Skywalker’s hand rested on his buzzed-off hair, the Jedi took a shuddering breath, and Rex’s world went dark.

Tomorrow morning the 501st would need their captain. They would need Rex whole and strong and stoic, and he would have no choice but to bind up his broken heart and be his men’s leader.

But tonight, Rex could fall apart.

Tonight, Rex could cling to his Jedi like a child would cling to its mother (he assumed—never having had a mother to cling to, Rex could only guess).

Tonight, he could grieve.

Just for tonight.


End file.
